The Royal Military Academy's Impostor Owns a Dungeon [BL] Chapter 1196: Under Him

Now, the earlier commotion had largely remained isolated, with most people simply trying to survive horrors of their own. But those words were so scathing that even the hardest-of-hearing master mechanics had undoubtedly caught them. Naturally, the entire lounge seemed to pause.

People stopped in the middle of throwing punches.

Hands froze with fistfuls of hair still clutched between their fingers.

Even those who’d been thoroughly committed to beating each other into submission instinctively turned toward the source of that declaration.

Nearly every adult present suddenly felt as though they’d been caught in the crossfire.

After all, almost everyone there besides the cadets was waaaaay older than Luca.

And what do you know?

Apparently, even while under the influence of a bloodline ability, being called old still managed to sting enough to call upon consciousness.

But the unusual and admittedly scandalous words hit Xavier with a different kind of shock.

He blinked before instinctively lowering his head.

Luca still refused to let go of him, as though physically anchoring him in place was the only way to stop another attack.

But when their eyes finally met, Xavier found none of the emptiness he’d been dreading.

Golden eyes looked back at him with their familiar warmth, now shimmering with tears as Luca pleaded with all the earnestness of someone trying to defend a stray beast.

That wasn’t the look of someone hopelessly devoted to the lightly crumpled Aerun.

"...?"

And that reasoning?

It was certainly absurd, alright.

But it was also so perfectly, unmistakably Luca that Xavier’s heart skipped a different beat.

Somehow, the familiar sparkle in those golden eyes as they gazed up at him hadn’t changed in the slightest.

"Husband, no!" Luca pleaded. "Fines for battery on vulnerable people can be doubled or even tripled! And he’s a super-duper senior foreigner!"

"..."

"..."

Xavier Solaris, Imperial Crown Prince of the sole surviving Empire, visibly twitched.

Then he jerked again.

Anyone watching closely might’ve thought the Imperial Prince was experiencing a major quake all on his own.

Yet even as his body briefly locked up from the sheer absurdity of what he’d just heard, the suffocating weight crushing his heart disappeared just as quickly.

If not the crazed words, or those beautifully teary eyes, then it had to be that familiar word. That tiny detail had done it for him.

"Husband."

The moment it reached his ears, the nightmare that had nearly consumed him dissolved so completely that Xavier almost felt his knees give way beneath him. Only moments ago, every muscle in his body had been prepared to eliminate the threat standing before him. Now that he knew Luca was still himself, all that tension came crashing down at once.

Even so, he couldn’t quite shake the lingering fear.

Gently, Xavier eased Luca’s arms away from his waist, wanting nothing more than to look into those familiar golden eyes one more time and reassure himself that everything truly was alright.

Instead, both of Luca’s hands immediately flew up to cover his eyes.

"No!" Luca cried, sounding genuinely alarmed. "Don’t look right now! What if it undoes our love?!"

Xavier stood there in complete disbelief.

Luca stubbornly kept both hands over his eyes as though shielding him from some unimaginable catastrophe, leaving the Imperial Prince utterly at a loss for words.

Undo...

Their love?

How, exactly, in Solaris, was that supposed to happen?

The very idea was so outrageous that Xavier couldn’t even begin to understand how his extremely creative chipmunk had arrived at such a conclusion.

But apparently, if someone’d be able to do something so unusual as that, it’d be his daredevil of a wife, who’d decided that of all means available at their disposal, when push comes to shove, the most economical way’d be to create his own highway.

His reasoning, at least to him, made perfect sense.

If the Aerun twins could turn people’s emotions on, then shouldn’t they also be able to turn them off?

And if Luca could somehow get hold of that very same remote, then wouldn’t he be able to switch everyone back?

__

Well, apparently the odds of that actually working were about fifty-fifty.

That realization very nearly scared the living daylights out of Xavier, who’d never imagined that letting his beloved out of his sight for less than half an hour could somehow lead to this.

Namely, Luca Soren Kyros deciding that the most reasonable response to being cornered was to just emulate the Aerun twins’ bloodline ability.

Because of course he did.

Now seated with a fluffy sleeping mask covering his eyes—courtesy of the very same blonde who’d finally been released from the confinement of the examination grounds after several people worked together to ensure nobody else realized a full-blown, and literal, royal rumble had actually been taking place behind closed doors—Luca nervously fidgeted with his fingers as he attempted to recount what led to that encounter.

But honestly, getting to this point had taken a good while because he had also stubbornly insisted that Xavier sit behind him.

Not beside him.

Not in front of him.

Behind him.

Or better yet, kind of under him.

According to Luca, they absolutely couldn’t risk making accidental eye contact just yet.

Xavier had naturally objected. The entire arrangement sounded completely absurd when all he wanted was to ensure there wouldn’t be a second round of that horrible experience.

Unfortunately, his beloved had pleaded with such heartbreaking sincerity that the Imperial Prince eventually surrendered and obediently took his new designated position as his living chair.

After all, according to Luca, what if he accidentally became obsessed?

Or worse...

What if he somehow stopped being in love altogether because Luca panicked and misfired?

Xavier very nearly choked upon hearing that outcry.

Fortunately, he managed to restrain himself because his father-in-law already looked as though he’d transformed into a thoroughly salted worm from sheer stress.

Besides, pointing out that becoming even more obsessed was probably impossible at this stage would almost certainly earn him a lifetime ban from approaching his own spouse.

So the Imperial Prince quietly swallowed every response that came to mind and focused instead on listening to the explanation that would no doubt raise everyone else’s blood pressure just as effectively as it had already raised his.